LOS ANGELES -- Authorities have confirmed a truck found burning in the San Bernardino Mountains belongs to ex-Los Angeles police officer Christopher Dorner, who is wanted in connection with the killings of three people and wounding of two others, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

Authorities suspect Dorner may hiding in the area, and law enforcement units are staging in Big Bear Lake, Running Springs, Arrowbear and Twin Peaks. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and the Calfornia Highway Patrol have deployed helicopters to help in the search.

At noon officials began evacuating and locking down local schools and resorts at Bear Mountain and Snow Summit.

"We're all on lockdown. All the stores and the schools are on lockdown," said Chris Gonzales, who works at the Golden Bear Cottage Gifts in village of Big Bear Lake.

As the search zeroed in on Big Bear around noon, officials began evacuating and locking down local schools and resorts because of the potential danger.

Chris Riddle, vice president of marketing for Bear Mountain and Snow Summit Ski Resorts, announced Bear Mountain Ski Resort was closing due to the volatile situation surrounding the manhunt for Dorner.

"Because the burning vehicle was found in the Bear Mountain parking lot, the San Bernardino County Sheriff has set up a command center there," said Riddle.

"They are now doing a search of the area around where the vehicle was found."

In Los Angeles, police are protecting dozens of people believed to be targeted by Dorner, who suspected of killing a couple in Irvine and then killing one Riverside police officer, critically wounding another one and wounding a third cop.

One of the largest manhunts in Los Angeles police history has been underway for Dorner, who is considered armed and extremely dangerous. The CHP issued a "blue alert" statewide warning police officers to be on high alert for the alleged cop killer, and used the statewide network of electronic highway signs to urge anyone who spots the truck the suspect is thought to be driving to immediately call 911.

Authorities described the truck as a blue or gray 2005 Nissan Titan with California license plate number 8D83997.

Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements, wrote an online manifesto threatening to harm numerous police officials and their families.

"I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty," said the manifesto.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said 40 protection units have been assigned in response to the manifesto.

"This is a vendetta against all of Southern California law enforcement," Beck said at a press conference. Dorner, he said, owns a number of guns, including an assault weapon.

Beck said one of the protection units was involved in a shooting after officers saw a pick-up truck matching the suspect's vehicle driving with no lights on near the home of someone considered one of Dorner's major targets. Two people unrelated to Dorner were shot; one person was treated and will be soon released, while the second was shot twice and is in stable condition, Beck said.

"Tragically we believe this was a case of mistaken identity by the officers," Beck said.

Minutes later Torrance officers responding to a report of gunshots encountered a dark pickup matching the description of Dorner's, said Torrance Sgt. Chris Roosen. A collision occurred and the officers fired on the pickup. The unidentified driver was not hit and it turned out not to be the suspect vehicle, Roosen said.

Both shootings involved pickup trucks similar to the one Dorner is said to be driving, Lt. Devin Chase told the Torrance Daily Breeze

Police officials told the Los Angeles Times they believe Dorner tried to seal a boat Wednesday night from an elderly man in San Diego.

The 81-year-old boat owner reported being accosted at the Southwestern Yacht Club in Point Loma, hours before the police shootings in Riverside. He said he was tied up by a burly man who threatened him with a gun and said he wanted the boat to flee to Mexico.

But while the assailant was trying to start the boat, a rope became entangled in the propeller and the boat was inoperable, authorities told the Times.

A badge and identification belonging Dorner was turned into San Diego police at 2:27 a.m. Thursday. Someone found them near the San Diego airport, although police there did not immediately know when they were found.

The suspect took the boat owner's cell phone and fled the scene and the boat owner was unharmed.

Dorner is wanted in the killings of Monica Quan -- the daughter of a retired Los Angeles police captain -- and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, who were found shot to death in their car at a parking structure Sunday night, Irvine police Chief David L. Maggard said at a news conference Wednesday night.

In San Diego, Naval Base Point Loma was locked down Thursday after a Navy worker reported seeing someone who resembled Dorner.

Navy Cmdr. Brad Fagan said officials don't believe he was on base Thursday but had checked into a base hotel on Tuesday and left the next day without checking out. Numerous agencies guarded the base.

Fagan said Dorner was honorably discharged and that his last day in the Navy was last Friday.

Nevada authorities also looked for Dorner because he owns a house nine miles from the Las Vegas Strip, according to authorities and court records.

Dorner, 33, implicated himself in the Irvine killings with a multi-page "manifesto" that he wrote that included threats against several people, including members of the LAPD, police said.

Police believe Dorner was involved in two overnight shootings. The first occurred in the city of Corona and involved two LAPD officers working a security detail, said Sgt. Alex Baez of the LAPD's Newton division, the Associated Press reported.

One officer was grazed. During the press conference, Beck said that the bullet came within inches of killing the officer.

Later, two officers on routine patrol in the neighboring city of Riverside were ambushed in their patrol car at a stop light, Riverside Lt. Guy Toussaint told the Associated Press. One died and the other was in surgery.

The Riverside officers shot overnight were not actively looking for Dorner, Toussaint said.

Police don't where Dorner is but think he left the area, he said.

"We're asking our officers to be extraordinarily cautious just as we're asking the public to be extraordinarily cautious with this guy. He's already demonstrated he has a propensity for shooting innocent people. We can't provide a lot of information now because we're trying to capture him," said Cmdr. Andrew Smith. "We don't know where he is. We're looking for the public's help to locate this guy. Anybody who sees him or believes they see him or his vehicle should call 911."

Autopsies showed that Quan and Lawrence were killed by multiple gunshot wounds in the parking structure at their condominium in Irvine, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said earlier Wednesday.

Quan, 28, was an assistant women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. Lawrence, 27, was a public safety officer at the University of Southern California.

The killings brought mourning and disbelief at three college campuses, Fullerton, USC, and Concordia University, where the two met when they were both students and basketball players.

Dorner's last known address was in La Palma in northern Orange County near Fullerton. He also reportedly owns a house in the Las Vegas area.

Dorner was with the department from 2005 until 2008, when he was fired for making false statements.

Quan's father, a former LAPD captain who became a lawyer in retirement, represented Dorner in front of the Board of Rights, a tribunal that ruled against Dorner at the time of his dismissal, LAPD Capt. William Hayes told The Associated Press Wednesday night.

Randal Quan retired in 2002. He later served as chief of police at Cal Poly Pomona before he started practicing law.

According to documents from a court of appeals hearing in October 2011, Dorner was fired from the LAPD after he made a complaint against his field training officer, Sgt. Teresa Evans. Dorner said that in the course of an arrest, Evans kicked suspect Christopher Gettler, a schizophrenic with severe dementia.

Following an investigation, Dorner was fired for making false statements.

Richard Gettler, the schizophrenic man's father, gave testimony that supported Dorner's claim. After his son was returned on July 28, 2007, Richard Gettler asked "if he had been in a fight because his face was puffy" and his son responded that he was kicked twice in the chest by a police officer.